The price of freedom
24 Dec 2015Jellicoe
Stannis Jellicoe leaned back in the chair of his palatial cabin, inhaled deeply from his cigar, took a swig from his whiskey and opened a secure channel to the shipyard at Jameson Memorial station, the line opened after a short delay and Jellicoe asked to be put through to Jepson, the chief sales executive. A hologram of a smooth looking man with immaculately groomed hair in a sharp suit appeared with an almost servile expression on his face and Jellicoe half smiled contrasting this with the memory of some of the ship purchases earlier in his career from rather less prestigious sources."An unexpected pleasure Commander Jellicoe, how can I help you today?" The man positively oozed.
"I'm just looking for an update on the progress of my new ship please Mr Jepson."
"Ah yes, Core Dynamics released the corvette class space frame as soon as confirmation of your commission was received from Eta Cassiopeia, it was delivered on schedule and our engineers are fitting it out to your specifications as we speak." The man beamed. "All is progressing exactly as planned sir. Would I be correct in assuming that you will command the ship from the helm and will not require the addition of a captains chair on the bridge that's standard on the navy issue model?"
"That's correct, I prefer to pilot my ships myself. Will the work be complete for my arrival?"
"It will be sir, and if it will be of assistance to you a Core Dynamics representative and my own staff will be on hand to familiarise you and your crew with your new ship."
"Thank you very much Mr Jepson that would be a great help. You should have received confirmation that I have the funds so I assume payment on delivery will be acceptable?"
"Very much so sir, and may I say what an honour it is that you have chosen us for such a lavish project." Jepson gushed just about keeping himself the right side of fawning, still when a man was paying you three quarters of a billion credits he was entitled to expected a certain level of obsequiousness.
"Not at all," Jellicoe answered "you're the best yard in the galaxy, and after the job you did with the 'Warspite' I'd be mad to go anywhere else."
"One more thing sir, regarding the customisation work you requested does the ship have a name?"
Jellicoe thought for a moment, he had never struggled over a name for a ship before but this time was different for some reason and he was still torn between several. He picked one at random, as always taken from a waterborne battleship from earths ancient past. "Yes of course, the name of the ship is 'Resolution'."
"I shall see to it sir, now is there anything else I can help you with?" Jepson remained as smooth as syrup, but Jellicoe strongly suspected a man in his position, accustomed to dealing with corporate CEO's and senior military personnel must hate having to fawn over a common spaceship captain. The thought amused him and he considered prolonging the conversation just to continue torturing this corporate back scratcher, but he thought better of it.
"No that's all for now. Thank you Mr Jepson you've been most helpful, I'll see you soon." He ended the call, put out his cigar, finished his whiskey and leaned even further back in the chair. He looked about his luxurious cabin, the Anaconda had been a good ship and he was sad to be letting her go, but she was outclassed as a warship by the new Corvette and in his line of work he needed the most powerful fighting ship he could get his hands on.
The ship was a marvel, superbly shielded and armoured, and with far more manoeuvrability than other vessels in her class, the crew had spent their familiarisation training open mouthed with amazement and even Jellicoe has struggled to hide his wonderment at the sheer power of the vessel. Granted she lacked the grace or style of the imperial ships, but she possessed a raw beauty in the functional brutality of her lines and the undisguised ferocity of her firepower. All this though still paled compared to the sensation that flooded over him as he powered her up, Jellicoe had always scorned the belief, still common among many spacers that each ship had it's own unique soul as the superstition of men and women who had spent too long in the black; but the sensation of an almost sentient feral savagery that flooded through him as the 'Resolution' came to life was undeniable and rather disquieting. The ship truly felt alive as power coursed through her in a way he had never known before.
Having completed the checks and requested launch permission the 'Resolution' slipped out of the dock to begin her space trials and for the next few days Jellicoe and his crew worked like fury to put her through her paces, weapons were repeatedly test fired, systems checked and rechecked and her engines and jump drives tested tuned and tested again, finally after a short shakedown cruise through the nearby systems Jellicoe declared himself satisfied, payment made and following a lavish celebration dinner the ship left the station once more as a fully operational warship.
"Where to then skipper?" Claude, the first mate asked.
"Kausalya of course." Jellicoe answered with a grin. "We have unfinished business with Emperors Dawn."